GAS COMPANY'S EMPLOYEES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12538, 27 June 1901, Page 6

GAS COMPANY'S EMPLOYEES.

TO THE EDITOB. Sir, —This question has been discussed in your columns intermittently for eome time past. The complaints voiced) by friends of the men have been specifically challenged by officers of the local company. The truth of the matter will not easily be elicited by such methods as have hitherto 'been employed. That grave abuses do exist in connection with the labour conditions of certain gasworks in Canterbury is a fact within the writer's personal knowledge. I cite one case. Two men do, or did until re-, cently, work shift about for twelve hours each, and on alternate Sundays they each take a twenty-four-hour shift to permit of the rest essential to the maintenance of life. Exactly what the conditions are at the works of the Christchurch Gas Company I do not know, bu/fc sufficient has been published in your columns to warrant the Trades and Labour Council taking immediate steps to hold a searching inquiry into the position of- the gasmaking section of, the companies' employees. I would suggest that the following points deserve to be dealt with:— 1. The actual and average number of ho\trs worked. 2. The actual and average wages paid each.'man. 3. The physical strain imposed upon the men as evidenced by the men's health records. lb may be asked why tlhe men do mot form a Union. That course is possible, but not politic, and might result in a new set of men being installed. The preliminary steps in any necessary reform should be taken by the Trades and Labour Council', which body has seldom been asked to redress the grievances' of a more deserving body of workmen than those on whose behalf I speak.—l am, etc., X.Y.Z.